A Cycle Touring Expedition Around The World

The heat hit me as a wall as I stepped out of the airport in Cape Town. As I’m used to travel with the speed of a bicycle, I almost couldn’t believe that I had left the northern winter for a southern summer just like that.

A new country, a new continent, a new beginning! As I was figuring out how to buy a bus ticket into town, a smiling German backpacker came over and said “hey take this, I wont need it anymore” as she gave me her Metro card. In the bus a friendly guy who I first thought was Dutch based on his accent (but who was of course a local Africaan speaker) explained where I should get off to get to my hostel, and so I thought I was off to a good start in Africa.

After all the troubles with the flights I had been travelling non stop for three days. The first thing I did was to sleep for 14 hours, and then it was time to go downtown and have a look! I immediately thought that Cape Town reminded me a whole lot of Sydney – it must have something to do with the fact that it is summer in January, that they drive on the left side, and the British influence in general.

It’s high season and the Town is filled with tourists – especially true in the fancy Waterfront area. It would be easy to forget that you are in Africa here, among the fancy boutiques, cars, and yachts. Oh well, I will soon enough get the chance to explore the real Africa.

Apart from hanging out having a good time at my hostel, I was eager to go looking for a new bike. After all a world cyclist without a bike is just not right. I found what I was looking for; a beautiful red Specialized mountain bike that I hope will bring me all the way through the continent.

The last weeks back in Denmark had been rather busy, trying to get everything ready. As it would take a couple of days to get my new bike delivered, I was trying to take advantage by getting stress levels way down. On the other hand I was also getting eager to get going.

In Cape Town you might think you are in Sydney, but if you get on a local train through the suburbs you will quickly realize that you are not. Not that I felt unsafe, but there clearly is a polished and a non-polished side to South Africa. I was heading out to Simonstown to have a look at the African penguins who hang out out there!

Cute, aren’t they?

During my days in Cape Town I had been looking up at the Table Mountain right behind the city. Tomorrow I plan to climb there.